Orlando

Once called, "the longest and most charming love letter in literature," “Orlando: A Biography(1928)” is a semi-biographical novel by Virginia Woolf.

Inspired by a three-year long affair with Vita Sackville-West, “Orlando: A Biography” is the satirical tale of an adventurous young poet named Orlando and his journey through over three hundred years of English literary history. Born a male nobleman, Orlando is a handsome young man serving as a page at the Elizabethan Court. When he falls in love with Sasha, a Russian princess, Orlando is subjected to both heartbreak and inspiration—leading him onto a path he might not have otherwise pursued. Through trial, tribulation, harmony and strife, Orlando persists on and one day awakens to find that he has metamorphosed into a woman overnight. Embracing his newfound womanhood, Orlando begins a new life in the eighteenth century, making the acquaintance of great writers and poets alike as he works towards the publication of “The Oak Tree”, his centuries-old volume of poetry.

Praised as one of the most influential works of feminist and queer literature, “Orlando: A Biography” is a unique and unusual look at queer love in the twentieth century.